1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to airline flight availability data. More particularly, the present invention relates to an efficient system and method of caching and utilizing airline flight availability data for specific subscribers.
2. Description of Prior Art
Booking an airline flight requires access to flight availability data, such as flight schedules and availability of seats. This information is updated and controlled by airlines and available from their airline servers.
In the past, only travel agents and airline personnel had access to airline servers and flight availability data. Computer systems allowed travel agents to be networked to airline servers through proprietary networks not available to individual clients. The proprietary networks were typically operated by travel information providers who provided electronic distribution of travel information to subscribing travel agencies. This limited access to airline servers and burdens placed on them.
With the ever increasing use of the Internet, many Internet web sites have been developed that also subscribe to services provided by travel information providers and allow individual clients to request flight availability data. When travel information providers receive flight availability data requests from their subscribers, they typically access airline servers in order to fulfill those requests. Therefore, each flight availability data request places burdens on both travel information providers and airline servers.
Many travel information providers rely on real-time requests to airline servers for flight availability data. Real-time requests may be either direct access requests or seamless availability requests. Since direct access requests and seamless availability requests are real-time requests, they reflect current flight availability data. Direct access requests provide information based on the identity of an individual subscriber and include all classes of service available to that subscriber. However, direct access requests are specific to each airline and subscribers must generate a unique direct access request for each airline from which they would like flight availability data. Furthermore, direct access cannot be used when airline servers are unavailable.
Seamless availability requests allow subscribers to access flight availability data from multiple airlines simultaneously. Seamless availability requests provide information based on the identity of an individual subscriber and include all classes of service available to that subscriber. However, seamless availability requests cannot be used when airline servers are unavailable.
Allowing individual clients to request flight availability data through real-time requests has dramatically increased burdens placed on travel information providers and airline servers. Specifically, as people increasingly use these web sites to check flight availability data, network traffic through travel information providers to airline servers increases.
Additionally, many travel agencies now use advanced search tools that also dramatically increase burdens placed on travel information providers and airline servers. These advanced search tools may generate several real-time requests for one trip, in an effort to find a low cost alternative or an alternate route.
Use of these web sites and advanced search tools leads to system overload conditions, such as network congestion, inadequate processing capacity, and inadequate infrastructure. System overload conditions can make airline servers unavailable. These issues lead to lost sales, denied sales, and other related problems. Therefore, many airlines and travel information providers have expressed a need to reduce these burdens.
A current method of obtaining flight availability data when airline servers are unavailable relies on availability status messages (AVS) received from airline servers and stored in a third party database. This AVS system is generic and cannot provide information based on the identity of a subscriber. Therefore, the AVS system may not include all classes of service available to any one subscriber. Additionally, the AVS system stores flight availability data based on each individual flight and not based on a trip's actual origin and destination. Therefore, the AVS system may not reflect complete flight availability data. Furthermore, the AVS system relies on the airline servers to keep it updated and, for that reason, may not reflect the most current flight availability data. Finally, in deciding whether or not to sell each trip, airlines consider many factors, such as the identity of the subscriber and the actual origin and destination. For these reasons, airlines often deny sales when the AVS system shows that there are seats available.
The AVS system can be useful for quick checks of flight availability data. However, subscribers must use a real-time request for accurate checks of updated flight availability data.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved system and method of caching and utilizing airline flight availability data for specific subscribers that overcomes the limitations of the prior art.